The establishment of an ethanol industry in Jogulamba Gadwal district of Telangana state has become a cause of intense tension. Local farmers have staged a protest against the establishment of an ethanol company. They have burnt the vehicles of the company that was trying to set up the factory. They have stopped the people of Gayatri Company who came there to start the company’s work without any fuss.
The Pedda Dhanwada farmers have revolted against the ethanol factory that is spreading pollution in the middle of green fields in Alampur constituency of Jogulamba Gadwal district. AP TDP leaders Srinivasulu Jabbala and Srisai Jabbala, with the support of ruling Congress party leaders, have taken up the construction work of an ethanol factory in the outskirts of Pedda Dhanwada in Rajoli mandal of Gadwal district.
The company management tried to take up the construction work by deploying a large number of police along with private army on Wednesday, but farmers from several villages reached there in large numbers in the early hours of the morning to stop it. The camp office of ‘Gayatri Renewable Fuels Allied Industry Private Limited’, which is building the ethanol factory, belonging to AP TDP leaders, was attacked.
The sheds and vehicles that were temporarily set up were destroyed. The container was uprooted and set on fire. The factory management, who felt the anger of the farmers, fled. The police, however, raided the villages in the evening and arrested those they found.
Although the locals have been demanding for some time that the factory should not be built amidst the green fields, the factory management is carrying out the work without any consideration. Angered by this, the people of Pedda Dhanwada and the four surrounding villages reached the factory construction site in the early hours of the morning and protested.
The company representatives were already ready to start the work amidst heavy police security along with the private army. With the information that the farmers would protest, the police had already planted crops in the outskirts of the respective villages so that none of the farmers could come out. Knowing about the matter, the farmers reached the factory construction site along the ridges of the fields.
The police retreated when they saw the farmers who had suddenly arrived there. The farmers who stopped the company representatives’ car there protested, saying, “You bought our lands for farming and now you are going to set up a company?” They fled from the spot after trying to attack the company owner and staff who were in the car.
The farmers also pelted stones at vehicles and Hitachis. They also uprooted and set fire to the container set up for the company representatives. When the police tried to stop them during the attack, the farmers pushed them aside and shouted slogans like, “We will not stand idly by while our lives are being put to death. We will not leave the factory even if we die.”